Microsoft Co-Founder Developing ‘Bio-Barrier’ to Protect Endangered Wild Dogs in Africa

Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, is funding conservationists who are developing a bio-barier based on chemicals identified in the urine of the African Wild Dog. The barrier would be used to manage the movement of dog packs and possibly become a model for similar systems for other endangered species.

In the middle of the 20th Century, the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) was common throughout sub saharan Africa. There were estimated to be 500,000 dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Today there are only 3,000-5,500 in fewer than 25 countries, primarily in eastern and southern Africa.

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The African Wild Dog was declared endangered by The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1990. They identify the principal threats as conflict with human activities and infectious disease. The large range area required by African Wild Dog packs demands very large conservation areas or effective fencing to avoid this detrimental contact with communities.

It is well known that many species mark their territories which odours. But it was Tico McNutt, Founder and Director of The Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, who took it a step further and conceived the idea of a bio-barrier. He had noticed that it took a pack of dogs six months to move into an area previously occupied by another pack. He assumed this was due to the original packs’ territorial behavior where hunting ranges are marked with patches of urine soaked soil or scent marks.

In April 2008, when 18 dogs were moved from the Marakele National Park in South Africa to Tuli, he had the opportunity to test his idea. A bio-boundary was established using scent marks collected from remote packs and monitored using GPS-equipped collars to track the pack’s movements.

The success of these field trials was the basis for the five-year Bio-Boundary Project funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. An analytical chemistry laboratory dedicated to identifying the signaling chemicals in African Wild Dog territorial scent marks has been established. The aim is to identify the active chemicals in the scent mark and then to formulate these into artificial bio-boundaries.

The bio-boundary would be used to avoid contact between the African Wild Dog and rural farming communities. One the concept is proven there would be an opportunity to develop similar systems for other endangered species.

Photo Credit: Philip Gabrielsen at Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license.

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